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Revealed: The Most Annoying Types of Ads on the Internet [Infographic]

Pop-up ads, lottery scams, and other types of advertising do more than just interrupt the flow of information online. Respondents to a recent survey on annoying ads have reported losing sleep and even assaulting their hardware after reading yet another email from a pen pal in a foreign land who needs them to transfer some money.

Pop-up ads, lottery scams, and other types of advertising do more than just interrupt the flow of information online. Respondents to a recent survey on annoying ads have reported losing sleep and even assaulting their hardware after reading yet another email from a pen pal in a foreign land who needs them to transfer some money.

Although a greater number of Americans (60 percent) are annoyed by television commercials than internet ads, the newer medium is on the rise, with 55 percent who are finding annoying ads in their inboxes and 37 percent who say they are happening on social media.

The most offensive kinds are:

Pop-up ads – 70%

Lottery scams – 70%

Male enhancement ads – 66%

Emails from deceased African leaders who have left them money – 64%

Ads for products and services they do not need – 58%

Female enhancement ads – 54%

The following infographic is a summary of InsightsOne‘s 2013 Bad Ads Survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive between Feb. 27 and Mar. 1, 2013 among 2,111 adults ages 18 and older.

In addition to statistics on the types of ads that people hate the most, there are also some surprising facts on how the respondents say the ads affect them in their personal lives and influence their feelings about the brand doing the advertising.

“The American people are tired of companies that appear to not respect or understand their needs, said InsightsOne CEO Waqar Hasan in a statement. “The results of the study show that consumers have a real limit on what they’re willing to put up with, and this very real problem will have a negative impact on a company’s income statement if they don’t do something about it.”